Efferent versus Aesthetic reading – read to gather information as opposed to reading with a sensitivity to how it is written and the emotional reaction we have to it (images, associations, and feelings it invokes”.

A definition of Praxis. Can’t believe it’s only the second time I’ve come across this word (the first time was in a description of the work of drama students at the Centre of Speech and Drama in Camden).

Praxis is commited action. Not only based on reflection but also a commitment to human well-being, the search for truth and respect for others. What an unusal word! But I would argue that an embodied learner would almost certainly be involved in Praxis. I feel so good knowing what this is!

Educators are involved with praxis: acts which shape and change the world. Adult education is ‘education for use’ (Lindeman 1944: 103). Yet few educators speak of praxis. Those that do tend to link it to the work of Freire.

lovely anecdote today on radio 4 from a gentleman standing at the top of a mountain who, when looking down on his village from such a great height, finds himself reviewing his whole life, his achievements and mistakes, and is overwhelmed by feelings of remorse…

I think in my mind, QS avoids narcissism if you are trying to resolve a disabling issue, or if the activities are contributing towards a larger effort, an attempt to understand the world more broadly (not just yourself). It’s subtle though. Sometimes I feel that just owning an all-seeing, all-doing, all-connected phone draws me inwards. Same criticism with much of the current connected tech…we are increasingly social and connected – online…but what does it (necessarily) detract us from doing?

the production of individual knowledge. The assumption inherent in this critique is that the introspective nature of reflection denies benefit to the profession at a wider level. However, this view is problematic because it ignores the dialogical potential of reflective practice. The importance of intersubjectivity and the potential for ‘communities of practice’ to enhance learning and professional awareness have been overlooked. From an educational perspective it is vital that professional socialisation of undergraduate students

incorporates strategies that facilitate dialogical reflection rather

than focusing solely on written reflection. In the workplace

clinicians may benefit from formal mechanisms to allow sharing

ideas as a first step towards shifting knowledge from the private to the public domain.

so – as long as we keep following Kolb’s cycle (or something similar…), as long as reflection is translated into action – not in circles but in a forward moving spiral…then we might say it is not simply self-obsessed and inward looking…and .as long as the greater awareness and progress that arises contributes to a wide exploration – feeds into the ideas of others?

and finally – education, wherever it takes place is ultimately a process of self-transformation – what separates it from self-help? Think it must have something to do with turning it into a collaborative process. Anything can become a self-obsessed activity if you do it too often and it isn’t make a contribution to society? And what do I mean by contribution to society.

From Health 2050: The Realization of Personalized Medicine through Crowdsourcing, the Quantified Self, and the Participatory Biocitizen, Journal or Personalised Medicine, 12 September 2012
Melanie Swan

Some of the limitations (specifically for health, but I’m sure you could draw parallels with ed)…
The responsibility becomes that of the individual, including associated costs.
Crowd sourcing is fine to find solutions to certain issues, but for some things, a more rigorous, approach requiring expert knowledge is required.

3.4.5. Participatory Health Pioneers Are Defining the Preventive Medicine Mindset
While criticism has been levied against quantified self-experimentation and crowdsourced healthstudy participation as being the special-interest activities of a small minority of those particularly, andpotentially obsessively, interested in health tracking and improvement, it can be argued that thesepioneers are critical in facilitating the widespread realization of preventive medicine. It is the‘Wikipedia-ization of health’ as a small number of contributors join to create a public good ofextensive and universal value. In technological and social movements, early adopters not only pave theway at the practical level, innovating tools and experimental processes so that they can be madecost-efficient and codified into effective means for attaining results, but also at the qualitative level.Early adopters help to make new ideas and techniques known as initially being strange andpreposterous, but then more commonplace as a sensibility and maturity develops, and valuepropositions become defined to different audiences. Self-awareness, self-tracking, monitoring,experimenting, and action-taking are critical components in the preventive medicine movement, andearly adopters, health hackers, and gene geeks are expected to innovate at the radical edge as the firststep towards mainstream adoption. The full path to the realization of the personalized preventivemedicine of the future is just starting to be defined, and the way forward will likely be elucidated byinnovators, both institutional and individual, and then expanded as other groups see and implement thevalue for themselves.
3.5. Limitations
There are a number of reasons that Health 2050: Preventive Medicine might not happen whichrange from institutional change to human behavioral psychology. Some of the most important can begrouped into five categories: technical feasibility, priority, human nature, timing, and criticisms ofparticipatory preventive health models. First and foremost is technical feasibility in the sense thathealth research generally, whether institutional or participatory efforts, has not been effective atfinding solutions to the most complex health challenges (a recent high-profile example is cancerimmunotherapy).

On occasion, self-trackers have been called obsessive, narcissistic or self-absorbed. Be careful you’re not teetering into being overly preoccupied with yourself! Moreover, if data collection turns obsessive and stops you living a fulfilled life, you’ll need to reassess its worth to you. If the data starts driving what you do each day, be sure to take care to stop this encroachment.